Congress uses tribals for election gains whereas BJP works for their welfare: Bhupendra Singh
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Minister Bhupendra Singh has said that the Opposition Congress has been doing use of tribals for electoral gain for fifty years whereas BJP has worked for their respect, welfare and all-round development.
Speaking to Millennium Post here, Urban Development Housing Minister Singh said that since the BJP came to power at the Centre and Madhya Pradesh under the leadership of Prime Minister and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, radical changes have been witnessed in the socio-economic and political areas of the tribals.
On asking about the Congress’ allegations over tribal atrocities, Bhupendra Singh attacked Congress, saying it remembers tribals only when the elections are around the corner to misguide them. The Assembly elections are due later this year.
The Opposition Congress had created a ruckus during the Monsoon Session of the state Assembly scheduled from July 11 to July 15, which lead to force the Speaker to announce the House sine die adjournment on the very second day. The tribal community, a total state’s population is 21 per cent, plays a key factor to get a mandate to the political parties.
“Congress had only been working for getting tribal votes for 50 years and it never allowed moving forward the tribal leadership in the state whether late Shiv Bhanu Solanki ji or heavenly Jamuna Devi ji, they got humiliated at the party,” the minister accused the grand old party over the tribal issue.
“Due to the works being done for tribal welfare by the Bhartiya Janta Party-led governments under Modi Ji and Chouhan Ji, Congress has understood that the community is not with it, so the party is using such propaganda to mislead the tribals for political gains ahead of the Assembly elections,” Bhupendra Singh also said.
Minister Singh, a four-term MLA and one-time Lok Sabha MP is considered a poll strategist leader in the BJP camp in state politics. He has given victory to his party in several elections and by-polls. Singh, elected as an MLA first time in 1993, is also considered one of the leaders in the saffron party who strengthened BJP in the Bundelkhand region.
“Implementing the PESA (Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act in the state, CM Chouhan-led BJP rule has taken a historic step to give the rights of water, forest and land to the tribals, which had been demanded for 50 years by the community,” the UAD minister also said.
Singh further said that BJP-led governments have not only moved forward for the welfare and development of the tribals but also taken several steps to pay respect to the freedom struggle figures and icons of the community such as the decision taken by PM to celebrate the Birsa Munda Jayanti nationwide, and the moves taken by CM Chouhan of building memorials of Tantya Mama and Rani Durgavati and naming world-class Habibganj Railway station after Rani Kamlapati.
“Since the Independence of the nation, for the first time, a tribal woman graced the top constitutional post (the President) of the country. It shows the syncretic thinking of the BJP and Modi Ji towards the tribal community,” he insisted.
The tribal community has always worked for the country’s self-respect whether in the fights against the Britishers and Mughals or in support of Maharana Pratap’s struggle. Keeping in mind their sacrifice and contribution to the nation, they deserve respect but Congress did not pay them honour in its long tenure of rules at the state and centre levels, the minister added.
Along with these, the BJP government has taken several other steps too for the all-round development of tribals in education, employment and health fields such as opening Eklavaya and Samrasta Residential schools, increasing scholarships, giving opportunities in national and international level education institutes, boosting youth of the
community for starting entrepreneurship, and introducing various health concerning schemes to eradicate malnutrition and serious diseases, he further added.
